Eran Shir started as a theoretical physicist studying black holes. Then he helped build Israel’s Arrow missile unit. Then he crowdsourced a map of the internet. Then he sold an AI company to Yahoo. And somehow, that was all before Nexar. In this episode of Aggaeus, Haggai Klorman Eraqi sits down with Eran Shir, co-founder of Nexar, for a conversation about one of the hardest frontiers in AI: making machines understand the physical world. Not the clean, predictable world of demos. The real world. The one with bad drivers, potholes, snowstorms, unicycles, kids chasing balls into the street, broken stop signs, fleet operators, latency constraints, cheap edge devices, and edge cases that can kill people. Nexar began with a deceptively simple question: What if your phone camera could see the road the way Waze sees traffic? That idea became a network of hundreds of thousands of connected vehicles, collecting billions of miles of real-world driving data every year — including tens of millions of rare, weird, dangerous, impossible-to-stage scenarios. Eran explains why the future of autonomy is not only about better algorithms. It is about data density, edge intelligence, economics, and the messy long tail of reality. He also shares the story behind BADASS 2.0, Nexar’s world model for collision prediction, explainability, planning, and risk avoidance — and why its behavior outside driving scenarios surprised even the team that built it. In this episode, we cover: • Why Eran calls himself a “failed physicist” • The difference between AI in the cloud and AI in the physical world • Why autonomous driving is a “where” question, not a “when” question • How Nexar built a real-world vision network across hundreds of thousands of vehicles • The economics of collecting road data when other companies spend millions to get it • What BADASS 2.0 can do, and why it may generalize beyond cars This is a conversation about roads, physics, AI, defense systems, drones, startups, and the strange moment we are entering. Where software no longer just understands text. It is starting to understand motion, risk, and the world itself. Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉 https://aggaeus.com/ SPONSORS - EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: KARDZ.BIZ BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”. Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE SAVE 10% ON BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE’S GLP-1 PROGRAMS WITH CODE AGGAEUS10 (LIMITED TIME). Better Weight For Life is a transformational weight loss program led by a U.S. board-certified physician—designed to keep it simple: personalized GLP-1 treatment, expert support, and discreet delivery. They offer options including Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Zepbound®, Mounjaro®, plus compounded semaglutide and compounded tirzepatide (eligibility depends on your medical evaluation). Claim the offer here: https://www.betterweightforlife.com/partners/aggaeus CONNECT WITH ERAN SHIR LinkedIn Nexar CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram DISCLAIMER Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.
